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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of Succession
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 08:26:12 -0700
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On Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:57:04 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

>Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> writes:
>>On 10/10/2024 9:28 AM, William Hyde wrote:
>>> Paul S Person wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 9 Oct 2024 13:51:44 -0400, Cryptoengineer
>>>> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 10/9/2024 11:42 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>>>> On Tue, 8 Oct 2024 22:18:12 -0400, Cryptoengineer
>>>>>> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 10/8/2024 11:55 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>>>>>> On 8 Oct 2024 14:16:07 -0000, jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll)=20
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Five SF Scenarios Involving the US Presidential Line of =
Succession
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The American Presidential Line of Succession determines who =
replaces
>>>>>>>>> a suddenly absent President. More importantly, it is an =
invaluable
>>>>>>>>> narrative tool.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> https://reactormag.com/five-sf-scenarios-involving-the-=20
>>>>>>>>> presidential-line-of-succession/
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I've occasionally wondered: in the event of a complete wipeout =
not
>>>>>>>> actually destroying the entire USA, so that most States could =
replace
>>>>>>>> their Senators and Representatives, would whichever of the =
Senate (by
>>>>>>>> electing a President Pro Tempore) or the House (by electing a
>>>>>>>> Speaker), depending on which is faster, actually be electing a
>>>>>>>> President of the USA?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As to maintaining order, I suspect the highest ranking military
>>>>>>>> officer would temporarily assume de facto control. As opposed =
to,=20
>>>>>>>> say,
>>>>>>>> one of the Federal Attorneys scattered around the country. The
>>>>>>>> military does have one advantage: there is /always/ someone who
>>>>>>>> outranks everybody else, so "who takes charge?" is clear.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Once a President exists, of course, the rest of the gummint =
(with the
>>>>>>>> advice and consent of the Senate, of course) would follow, and =
the=20
>>>>>>>> DoD
>>>>>>>> could be put back under civilian control.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> IIRC, Congress is installed first, and they approve the
>>>>>>> slate of electoral votes to declare the President. So Congress =
comes
>>>>>>> first. That's what Trump was treasonously trying to disrupt on =
Jan 6.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Which is corrrect, but has nothing to do with my very wild
>>>>>> speculations.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Or are you contemplating an off-year/out of season Presidential
>>>>>> election before a new President can be installed?
>>>>>
>>>>> No, the regular Congress.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's the timeline:
>>>>> https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2024-election-key-dates-beyond-=20
>>>>> election-day/
>>>>>
>>>>> The new Congress is sworn in Jan 3, and counts the electoral
>>>>> votes Jan 6.
>>>>
>>>=20
>>>>
>>>> I also suspect a new District of Columbia will be established,
>>>> probably in the middle of the country. Nothing like high mountains =
and
>>>> a thousand miles or two of land to make a government feel secure.
>>>=20
>>> Without, one hopes, disenfranchising a million Americans.
>>>=20
>>You can't be disenfranchised if you don't have the ability to vote in=20
>>the first place.  ;)
>>
>>If you are going to take out every elected official at the Federal =
level=20
>>and all the SC Justices then you have to hit a LOT more places than =
just=20
>>DC.  Someone from the Cabinet or Congress is ALWAYS away from DC.=20
>>Taking them all out would require basically glassing every major city =
in=20
>>the country.  Anything that's left after that is going to be little=20
>>fiefdoms scattered across the continent.
>
>That was a plot point in _Debt of Honor_, where the attack was timed
>such that the vast majority of elected officials in the line of
>succession were at the Capitol.

I read that a long time ago, but that doesn't mean it's attack wasn't
at the back of my mind somewhere when I thought of mine.
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"